Record numbers of Twitter users access the service on a mobile.

Ten million people in the UK use Twitter, out of 140m worldwide, the company has announced. 80 per cent of those use it via their mobile phone.

The global average for Twitter users logging on via mobile is 55 per cent, so the UK usage rate is unusually high. The UK is said to be the fourth highest user of Twitter in the world, with the US, Brazil and Japan coming in the top three positions. In February Twitter announced it had 500 m global users, with 140m active users (people using Twitter once a month or more).

When founded in 2006, Twitter was designed to be used via SMS, which is why tweets are limited to 140 characters. It's high mobile use represents a return to its early genesis.

The site also experiences a high level of content generation from its users, with 60 per cent of users contributing to the site, whether by tweeting, retweeting or posting pictures or other content.

Twitter UK tweeted about the results, saying “snapshot of Twitter in the UK: 10m active users, 80 per cent of which are also active on mobile. And an office that's been open almost a year!”

The UK office opened on 1 June 2011, and now has more than 30 staff. It is gaining increasing success as an advertising platform, introducing promoted Tweets, trends and similar paid for content. Companies like Cadbury have run high profile Twitter advertising campaigns.

Cadbury say a recent campaign brought a 1,800 per cent increase in positive mentions for the brand. Cadbury's “Tweet for Sweets” challenge from the Promoted Trend had a 25 per cent engagement rate, according to a case study on the Twitter business website.